Shoulder pad



Nov. 21, 1950 H. LOPATO 2,530,392

SHOULDER PAD Filed May 16, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. HAROLD LQP/ITO.

A TTORNE I Nov. 21, 1950 H. LOPATO 2,530,392

SHOULDER PAD Filed May 16, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet 2' INVENTOR. J HAROLD LOP/ITO A oEA/E K and finishers in the trade. shoulder pads are used in garments for the pur- Patented Nov. 21, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SHOULDER PAD Harold Lopato, New York, N. Y., assig'nor -to Majestic Shoulder Pad Corp., New York, N. Y., a

corporation of New York Application May'16, 1949, Serial No. 93,531

3-Claims. 1

This invention relates to improvements in shoulder pads.

Heretofore, it was the practice to manufacture and cut the pad substantially along a center line which provided a vertical line at right angles to the horizontal shoulder line which did not permit the cut edge of the pad to be sewn along a curved shoulder line'in garments as desired bydesigners It is known that pose of lifting the shoulders of a garment, thus greatly enhancing the appearance of such garment, thus greatly'enhancing the appearance of such garments; therefore, the importance of the correctly constructed pad is apparent.

Shoulder pads, as they are being manufactured today, do not adapt themselves readily to the requirements of garments without difficult and laborious cutting operations so that'they will be in correct alinement with the garments curved shoulder line.

It is, therefore, an object of 'the present invention to provide a blank (formed from two flexible joined panels) from which a pair of shoulder pads can be manufacture which will produce an outside edge on each pad making with the horizontal shoulder line an angle difierent from a vertical angle.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide shoulder pad blanks constructed in such a manner that the shoulder pads, after being manufactured from the said blanks, are cut in half, thus producing two single shoulder pads, one for each shoulder, which by this one operation provides a cut edge on each shoulder pad which is at other than a right-angle, namely, more than 90 with respect to the horizontal shoulder line.

Another object of this invention is to provide a blank made from two flexible panels, each pan e1 having a sewing edge shaped in such a manner that when the panels are seamed together at the sewing edges, a saddle-shaped blank will be formed.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide in the manufacture of a pair of shoulder pads a substantially saddle-shaped blank made up of two flexible panels seamed together and to which the conventional filler and inner lining is secured by conventional stitching; the shoulder pads being formed by cutting the manufactured unit along a line at right angles to the seam.

These and other objects and certain advantageous features are accomplished by the novel and practical'construction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter disclosed and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, constituting an essential part of the disclosure, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a panel 'of a conventional design used in the manufacture of shoulder pads;

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 with the panel folded along its transverse medial line, illustrating the conventional right'angle formed thereby;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a panel embodying the invention;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2, with the panel folded along its transverse medial line, forming anangle-larger than a right angle;

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of two panels illustrated in Fig. 3, seamed'together;

Fig. 6 is a front edge view'of Fig. 5;

Fig. '7 is a view similar to Fig. 5, but showing the overlapping of portions of the blank, if the latter were cut to the center point thereof and substantially flattened out;

Fig. 8 is a side elevational view of a complete unit according to the invention, before being cut in half to form two separate pads, one foreach shoulder;

Fig.9 is-a top'plan view of Fig. 8;

Fig. 10 is a right hand end view of Fig. 8;

Fig. 11 is a view similar to Fig. 8 but showing a conventional unit;

Fig. 12 is an end view of a shoulder pad formed by cutting in half the unit shown in Fig. 8;

Fig. 13 is a front elevational viewof Fig. 12;

Fig. 14 is a view similar to Fig. 13, but showing the conventionally constructed shoulder pad;

Fig. 15 is a-bottom view ofa shoulder pad constructed in the conventional manner; and

Fig. 16 is a bottom view of a shoulder pad constructed according to the invention.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, the conventional panel (Fig. 1) from which the conventional shoulder pad is made (Figs. 11 and 14), comprises a sheet material 20 having the arcuate edge 2| with the cutting guard here exemplified as a central notch22 at its apex, the extensions 23 and the upper edge 24. Upper edge 24 is substantially horizontal with possibly a slight hump 25 at its center and upcurved ends 26. In this form of panel as the upper edge 24 is substantially at right angles to the medial line 21 and the folded edge 28 (Fig. 2). The blank is shown folded in Figs. 2 and 4 for illustrative purposes only, since the medial line 21 or fold line 28 will become the line on which the finished article is cut to form the pair of shoulder pads.

Referrin to Figs. 3 and 4, the panel 39 has conventional arcuate edges 3|, notch 32 and upper edge-extensions 33. However, it is to be particularly noted that the upper edge 34 is depressed at its center portion 35 while the end portions 36 may be curved. Thus, the upper edge 34, at least at its center portion 35, is substantially V-shaped, although it may be arcuate. The upper edge 34, when the panel 30 is folded on the medial line 31 to form the fold 38, makes with the latter an obtuse angle Aa.

Referring to Figs. and 6, two of the panels are overlapped at their upper edges 34 as seen at 39 and secured together by stitches 4B. As clearly seen in Figs. 5 and 6, the panels 30 when joined by the seam 40 constitute a blank 42 havin a substantially saddle-shaped concavity 4|.

Fig. 7, which has been included in the drawing for illustrative purposes only, shows how the parts 39a, 30b of panel 30 overlap because of th construction of blank 42, if the said panel 30 were cutalong its medial line 3'! to form edges 31a, 31?). It is to be understood, however, that in the manufacture of the shoulder pads, this medial line is not cut until the complete unit has been finished as hereinafter stated. This view indicates the existence of apressure at the center and end areas of the blank which causes the parts and lining 46 are stitched to blank 42 bystitch ing 48. Then unit 41 is out along the line 49 which is the same as the alined medial lines 31 of the two joined panels 39. There are thus produced two identical shoulder pads, one of which is shown in Figs. 13 and 16. Comparing Fig. 16 with Fig. 15, which shows the conventional shoulder pad, it is quite apparent that a definite curved cut edge 49 is produced by the invention. This curve 49 in certain materials is accentuated by virtue of the pressures created along the seam line 40.

As clearly seen in Fig. 13, the cut edge 49 makes an obtuse angle with the upper edge 49, being similar to the angle Ad in Fig. 4. This is in contrast with the conventional shoulder pad seen in Fig. 14 which shows the upper edge 24 substantially at right angles to the medial line 59.

Thus, there has been produced a shoulder pad which can be made to conform to a variety of angles or curves formed at the juncture of the shoulder and the sleeve of a garment.

As changes of construction could be made within the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matters contained in the foregoing description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In the method of manufacturing a pair of shoulder pads, the steps of forming each one of a pair of panels with a substantially concaved edge, seaming the panels together at said edges forming a saddle-shaped blank, and subsequently, cutting said blank along a line disposed in a plane at right angles to the plane of said seam to thereby form a pair of opposed shoulder pad forming members.

2. In the method of manufacturing a pair of shoulder pads; the steps of forming each one of a pair of panels with a substantially concaved edge, seamin said concaved edges together so that said joined panels form a saddle-shaped blank, securing a filler to the under surface of said blank, and cutting said blank and filler along a plane disposed at right angles to a plane passing through the seam joining said panels to thereby form a pair of shoulder pads in which the crest of each pad inclines toward the plane along which the cutting step was efiected.

3. In the method of manufacturin a pair of shoulder pads; the steps of formin a pair of panels each having a substantially concaved edge, seaming said concaved edges of said pair of panels together to form a saddle-shaped blank, securing an elliptical filler to the under surface of said blank with the major axis of said filler underlying the seam, and cutting said blank and said filler along a plane disposed at right angles to a plane extendin through the seam of the blank to thereby form a pair of shoulder pads each having an outwardly sloping crest.

HAROLD LOPATO.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,425,233 Andecott Aug. 5, 1947 2,431,616 Lefi Nov. 25, 1947 2,439,991 Schulman Apr. 20, 1948 

